Screen-door brace.



w. J. FOREST & c. M. JACOBS.-

SGRBEN DOOR BRAOE.

APPLIOATIO N FILED JULY'LB, 1909.

980,507, Patented Jan. 3. 1911.

\A/lLL/A/WZ/HREST Witnuowa CHARLES/l4- A'C O55.

rm: NORRIS PETERS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLTAM J. FOREST AND CHARLES M. JACOBS, OF WAIBASH, INDIANA.

SCREEN-DOOR BRACE.

sector.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 3, 1911.

Application filed July 16, 1909. Serial No. 507,979.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, \VILLIAM J. Fonnsr and CHARLES M. Jacons, citizensof the United States, residing at Wabash, in the county of Vabash, Stateof Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improve ments inScreen-Door Braces; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact-description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

This invention relates to improvements in struts or braces and moreparticularly to the type employed with the frames of screen doors.

It has for its object the provision of a device of that kind adapted totake up the sagging in the frame of a screen door.

Another object is the provision of a turnbuckle which may be turned byhand without danger of the operator scrapping his hand against thesurface of the screen.

With these and other objects in view as will more fully hereinafterappear, the present invention consists in certain novel details ofconstruction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter fully described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings and more particularly pointedout in the appended claim; it being understood that various changes inthe form, proportion, size and minor details of the device may be madewithout departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantagesof the invention.

In the accompanying drawings forming part of the specification:Figure 1is a front view of a spring door frame showing our improved deviceapplied thereto. Fig. 2 is a detailed perspective of the turn-buckle.

Similar numerals of reference are .employed to designate correspondingparts throughout.

The sides of the door frame are designated by the numerals 5 and 6 andthe ends by the numerals 7 and 8, the said sides and ends being bracedin the usual manner by the horizontally disposed brace bar 9 and thevertical brace bar 10.

The brace forming the subject of the present invention is designated ingeneral by the numeral 11 and is composed of two rods designated by thenumerals 12 and 13. These rods are arranged diagonally of the frame andhave their outer ends secured to one of the sides thereof and thehorizontal brace bar 9. The outer ends of the rods are bent at an angleas shown at 1 1 and are provided with openings for the reception ofscrews 15, by means of which the said ends are secured to the lower faceof the horizontal brace bar 9 and inner face of the side 5. The innerends of the rods are screw threaded as shown at 16, the thread of onerod extending in an opposite direction to the thread of the other rod.

The turn-buckle 17 is preferably formed of a single piece of brass orother non-rust- .ing metal and is cylindrical in contour.

The bore of the turn-buckle is provided with right and left screwthreads for the reception of the threaded ends 16 of the bars 12 and 13.e are aware that it is old to employ a turn-buckle to connect thethreaded ends of two rods, such as shown in Fig. 1, but so far as knownthe turn-buckles heretofore used were of the skeleton or frame typewhich exposed the threaded ends of the bars extending into theturn-buckles to the elements, and in danger to rust. By constructing theturn buckle such as is shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that thethreaded ends of the rods disposed within the to rnbuckle will at alltimes be protected from exposure and any tendency to rust. The outersurface of the turn-buckle is concaved from its middle portion to theopposite ends as shown at 18, and the middle portion is non-cylindricalin contour as shown at 19 and provides four flat faces which cotiperatewith the concaved portion to provide a hand-hold for the operator, andalso a hearing surface for a wrench or other tightening tool when it isdesired to use the latter.

As before stated, the types of turn-buckles used with devices of thiskind are usually of the skeleton or frame type and are consequently muchwider than the device herein shown and when necessary to turn theturnbuckles by hand the small space existing between one side of theturn-buckle and the screen make it almost impossible for the operator tomake a complete turn of the buckle without scraping his hands againstthe wire screens and then again the widths of these buckles often causea bulging in the screen when turned so as to bring one of their sides atright-angles to the screen. With our construction it can be readily seenthat these defects are removed since it is obvious that the turn-buckle17 may be readily turned without in any way bringing the hand of theoperator into contact with the screen.

Those portions of the turnbuckle lying between the concaved portions andthe terminal faces of the turnbuckle are substantially flush with thecorners of the squared portion lying between the concaved portions, andprovide comfortable bearing surfaces for the operators hand to bearagainst when manipulating the turnbuckle.

What is claimed as new, is

A turnbuckle comprising a pair of alined rods having their opposed endsscrew threaded, and a tubular turnbuckle having a threaded bore toreceive the threaded ends of the rods and having its outer surfaceconcaved from its middle portion to within a short distance of each end,that portion lying between the concaved portions being squared toprovide wrench faces, and those portions lying beyond the concavedportions being flush with the corners of the squared portion to providecomfortable bearing surfaces for the hand.

In testimony whereof, we afiix our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses.

WVILLIAM J. FOREST. 1 CHARLES M. JACOBS.

Witnesses GARFIELD SMITH, J. H. RooKwooD.

